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What are the benefits and side effects of these products?

A friend recommended this stack to me but I have not tried a product like this before. I am looking for a bit of an aid to get more serious about working out and he said that these products together gave him the best results. He says to do 8 weeks on - 4 weeks off.

D Aspartic Acid

APE

Erase (lowers estrogen)

If anyone has any experience or knowledge of these products, I'd greatly appreciate it.

D-Aspartic Acid purportedly makes you hornier and "better" in bed, can't attest to its effectiveness. But the "better" part is probably just the placebo effect and expectation effect... What I could tell you is that with any 1 ingredient supplement, it's always better to buy the powder, rather than the capsules. You get way more product for your dollar. You just have to get a measuring spoon (tea spoon = 5 grams generally)

The other 2 aren't things that I would take as a standalone, in fact their actually better suited to part of a post cycle therapy regimen... Cortisol suppression, aromitase inhibition, supposed elevated T levels; I mean, they're good things to have, but their real value is after you've run something particularly hard on your system.

What, ideally and realisitically, are you hoping to get out of a supplement?

I'm just looking for a product that will allow me to produce better results alongside proper nutrition and supplements (multivitamin, B complex, protein powder, creatine). Perhaps something that will also increase my motivation and energy levels.

Aspartic acid's L(evo)rotation is metabolized in proteins and the D(extro)rotation is used as a neurotransmitter. Also, the D-isomer has shown to improve good ole gonadotropin (GnRH). It also enhances growth hormone (GH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), which are released from the pituitary gland. Recall: Sonnen's Balls

Originally Posted by _DCdoctr_

The precursors of testosterone that I mentioned above that regulate its production is LH. LH=luteinizing hormone. Now LH production is influenced by gonadotropin-releasing hormone or GnRH. GnRH stimulates the front part of the pituitary gland to secrete LH and another hormone called FSH (follicle stimulating hormone.) The LH is the primary stimulus of testosterone secretion. The FSH is what stimulates the beginning formation of our baby makers/sperm.

So since the testosterone secretion is stimulated by LH from the pituitary gland, the quantity of testosterone secreted increases in direct proportion to the amount of LH available. What does it all mean Bazil? There’s a balance to be kept between LH and testosterone. Also, there’s a feedback if there’s too much testosterone in the body. This will cause the pituitary to say, “chill out on the production of LH!” STAY WITH ME!!! Whenever the causation of said increases of testosterone ceases then the front part of the pituitary will need to be turned back on to produce appropriate amounts of LH to form testosterone. This shut down usually is caused by too much testosterone, which has a negative affect on the hypothalamus’s secretion of our friend GnRH. This in turn causes decreases in secretion of both LH and FSH…in the front part of the pituitary gland. This DECREASE in LH decreased the secretion of testosterone in the testes. Someone wisely mentioned last week about the negative feedback loop involved in this matter. To take it a little deeper, whenever the secretion of testosterone becomes too great, the negative feedback effect occurs via the hypothalamus and front pituitary gland and this reduces the testosterone secretion back toward normal operating levels. Oppositely, too little testosterone allows the hypothalamus to secrete huge amount of GnRH, which increases the front pituitary’s LH and FSH secretion and as a result increases the testicular testosterone secretion.

BP

So the D-aspartic acid not only seems to directly increase testicular production of testosterone, but also the secretion of it. Again, I'm guessing it does this by affecting/increasing (LH) and (GH) levels.

I may pull out some biochem- and/or endocrin- books to see if I can find anything else regarding it's mechanism(s) of action.

Aspartic acid's L(evo)rotation is metabolized in proteins and the D(extro)rotation is used as a neurotransmitter. Also, the D-isomer has shown to improve good ole gonadotropin (GRH). It also enhances growth hormone (GH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), which are released from the pituitary gland. Recall: Sonnen's Balls

So the D-aspartic acid not only seems to directly increase testicular production of testosterone, but also the secretion of it. Again, I'm guessing it does this by affecting/increasing (LH) and (GH) levels.

I may pull out some biochem- and/or endocrin- books to see if I can find anything else regarding it's mechanism(s) of action.

BP

Very interesting science. I am quite weary of the side effects of aspartic acid though.

You see...

Here is an article of why the ERASE supplement might become necessary as its purpose is to lower estrogen.

The increase of LH would lead to the increase of estrogen as well. An aromatase inhibitor would counter the increase of estrogen.

Nutrition: D-Aspartic Acid – A Double-Edged Sword?
Date Posted: 03/30/2011
Author: Peter Bauman
A new compound has started to take the fitness industry by storm. D-Aspartic Acid (DAA) has become the next big thing in the supplement industry due to studies showing that it can help to increase precious testosterone levels, which is a goal of every self-respecting male who sets foot in a gym to pump the iron. However, some other research has emerged suggesting that D-Aspartic Acid might have some side effects that counteract the potential gains in testosterone. Let’s take a look at the compound and the research to get a better idea of the situation.

D-Aspartic Acid (DAA), which is not to be confused with Asparagine (the compound in asparagus that causes your urine to smell), is one of 20 naturally occurring amino acids. It isn’t what is considered an “essential amino acid” because our bodies can synthesize it from other compounds, but it can be found in various foods such as meats, avocados, beets and oats, just to name a few. DAA is found primarily in the pituitary gland in your brain, the endocrine gland that controls things like growth, energy levels, thyroid and sex functioning, etc., as well as the testes, which produce your reproductive friends, sperm, and androgens like testosterone. The hype around DAA came from studies showing that it causes an increase in Luteinizing Hormone (LH), a compound that signals the testes to produce testosterone. If DAA increases LH, which in turn increases T, this is a good thing, right? Bodybuilders and gym rats all over the country have started supplementing DAA hoping to push their T levels through the roof and reap the benefits. This would be fine if it weren’t for the newest research that emerged, putting a screeching halt to the exuberance with which people tout the advantages of supplementing DAA.

What could this new research possibly show that would make people question the efficacy of this compound? Don’t worry, it wasn’t giving people hairy palms or anything like that, but it did show a serious drawback that would make supplementing this substance fairly worthless. The new research demonstrated that DAA increases not only cause the luteinizing hormone to increase testosterone levels, but at the same time it increases activity of a compound called aromatase. Aromatase’s function in the body is to convert testosterone into estradiol, a form of estrogen. DAA apparently is an active compound for increasing the production of sex hormones – both male AND female. Every muscle builder wants to produce more testosterone, but it isn’t a good thing to also produce an equally greater amount of estrogen. Some testosterone is naturally converted to estrogen, and there’s not a whole lot you can do to stop it, but your body requires a little bit of estrogen to run properly. There are supplements and compounds that you can take to slow the conversion of testosterone to estrogen, but regardless of what you do, some of it will be converted. Unfortunately, supplementing with DAA (which increases your aromatase activity levels) converts a lot of testosterone into estrogen. What this means (in an extreme case) is that you could pack on a ton of muscle mass, be ready to dominate and take names, and have the libido of a Bonobos monkey. But, you could also end up being moody, growing male breasts, and craving chocolate and sappy movies. All exaggeration aside, these new findings make DAA a supplement you probably want to avoid.

The good news is that there are things that can be done to counteract the negative side effects and prevent the increase in estrogen production. DAA may increase aromatase activity, but the simple solution to that problem is to take a supplement that acts as an “aromatase inhibitor”, such as Triarco’s MyTosterone®. Even if there is more aromatase in your system, or more aromatase enzymes floating around, they won’t be effective in converting your beloved testosterone into estrogen if they are blocked or inhibited. When it comes down to it, I wouldn’t recommend taking DAA, or at the very least taking it by itself. DAA will increase testosterone levels, but it will also increase estrogen levels if the side effects aren’t counteracted. Playing that much hormonal warfare on your body is probably not the best idea, especially when there are T-increasing products out there without the negative side effects. If you can get your hands on another supplement such as MyTosterone, or tribulus terrestris, which won’t have the same drawbacks, you will probably be better off.

Here is an article of why the ERASE supplement might become necessary as its purpose is to lower estrogen.

The increase of LH would lead to the increase of estrogen as well. An aromatase inhibitor would counter the increase of estrogen.

With anything that really spikes your testosterone (probably nothing you can buy legally; tribulus, etc) you're going to get increased levels of estrogen, and if you use an aromitase inhibitor, you're going to get estrogen rebound (essentially a spike) when you stop.

Starting your dose high, and tapering downwards will help minimize the rebound, but some is unavoidable.